In 1955’s Francis In The Navy, Donald O’Connor plays Lt. Peter Sterling, an officer in the U.S. Army who gets word that his best friend, a talking mule named Francis (voice of Chill Wills), is about to be auctioned off by the U.S. Navy.  Sterling rushes to the Naval base but, along the way, his wallet gets stolen, he gets mistaken for an AWOL soldier, and Francis gets sold to a laboratory.

Hold on, I’m re-reading that last paragraph to make sure that I didn’t hallucinating typing all that…

Peter argues that he’s not the AWOL soldier, he’s just someone who looks just like him.  Peter gets tossed into the psychiatric ward.  Francis advices Peter …. yes, the mule that can talk gives Peter advice on how to get out of the mental ward …. to pretend to be the AWOL sailor.  Unfortunately, the sailor is a champion boxer so that means Peter will have to enter the ring.  Peter, needless to say, is not a boxer.  Peter also falls for a nurse (Martha Hyer) but — uh oh! — she’s the sister of the AWOL soldier.  Well, that’s kind of awkward.  I don’t have a brother but if I did, I doubt I would ever want to make out with anyone who looked like him.  Like seriously….

Hold on, I’m re-reading that last paragraph to see if there’s anything that I need to add.

Like, seriously, what the Hell?  This movie has a talking mule, an oddly incestuous subtext, and Donald O’Connor playing two roles.  Doing some research, I discovered that this was the sixth film to deal with the adventures of Peter Sterling and Francis.  This was the last one of them to star Donald O’Connor, who apparently resented getting upstaged by a mule.  There was one more Francis movie after this one and it starred Mickey Rooney.  It was called Francis In The Haunted House so who knows?  Maybe I’ll review it for our October horrorthon.  (Don’t count on it.)

As weird as this film is, it’s kind of likable.  Donald O’Connor is a favorite of mine and this one featured O’Connor in two roles, as both the hapless Peter and also the sailor who goes AWOL and repeatedly refuses to help Peter out.  And, while I’m not really sure why he’s talking, Francis was actually cute.  I enjoyed the boxing scene where he attempted to help Peter out.  Unfortunately, there’s only so much a mule can do.

As for why I’m reviewing this movie, it’s because Clint Eastwood is in the cast.  He plays Jonesy, a friend of the AWOL sailor who becomes a friend of Peter’s.  Now, to be clear, Clint doesn’t do a lot in the movie.  He works Peter’s corner during the boxing match.  Otherwise, he spends most of the time in the background and he has a few scenes where he hangs out with the rest of the AWOL sailor’s friends.  That said, Clint does make an impression.  Even in this very early role, he had an impressive screen presence.  He’s the tallest guy there and he’s got the best hair.  Once you spot him in a scene, it’s hard to look away.

Francis In The Navy is historically significant because it’s the first film for which Clint Eastwood received on-screen credit.  (Eastwood previously appeared in films like Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula but his name wasn’t included in the credits.)  It’s an odd film, one that’s likable if you’re in an undemanding mood and you enjoy goof — extremely goofy — humor.  It would be forgotten if not for Eastwood’s appearance.  Seen today, this film, like Eastwood’s other early appearances, reminds us that everyone started somewhere.